


dust motes and sirens scales

by kemvon



Series: kemvon's ficlets from tumblr [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Draco Malfoy Redemption, Enemies to Friends, Ficlet, Fluff, M/M, Post-War, haha jk... unless, to perhaps... LOVERS?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-17
Updated: 2020-02-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:15:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22763071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kemvon/pseuds/kemvon
Summary: 32. dust motes for rockmarina--It's months after the war when Harry sees Malfoy again. The reparations are going well; Hogwarts is slowly becoming as great as it once was, but it may never return to its former glory.His once-enemy has changed. Malfoy’s blonde hair has grown longer and he’s grown thinner. Those who had been part of Voldemort’s army or close to it had suffered the most, it seems.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Series: kemvon's ficlets from tumblr [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1524581
Comments: 3
Kudos: 24





	dust motes and sirens scales

It's months after the war when Harry sees Malfoy again. The reparations are going well; Hogwarts is slowly becoming as great as it once was, but it may never return to its former glory.

His once-enemy has changed. Malfoy’s blonde hair has grown longer and he’s grown thinner. Those who had been part of Voldemort’s army or close to it had suffered the most, it seems.

Harry can’t stop staring. Amidst the rays of sun that come through the cracked window, and the dust motes swirling around this boy-turned-man, Draco Malfoy looks almost ethereal.

The Chosen One lingers at the door of their old Potions classroom, watching Malfoy sit and stare at apparently nothing. Grey eyes flash as Malfoy turns around, calm - too calm - and his stare pins Harry down.

‘What do you want, Potter?’ His voice is still calm, measured, nothing like the arrogant boy he’d once been. There are bags under his eyes, and his cheeks are sunken. He looks like he’s been through hell. He probably has - most Slytherins are still severely mistreated, blamed for the war and Hogwarts’ losses.

‘I don’t know.’ Harry says, and it’s the truest thing he’s said in months. Now that Voldemort’s gone, he has no use. He’s a decent wizard, sure, but he’s not as good as Hermione. He has no parents and not many friends. Harry feels  _ alone _ .

Malfoy says nothing, just looks at him in - understanding? - and turns away, looking out the window. 

Harry joins him, standing next to his once-enemy as they stare out at the Quidditch fields. There are no first years playing on the grass, no Quidditch teams practicing, no crowd in the stands.

‘What do you think will happen now?’ Harry asks, looking at Malfoy from the corner of his eye. The Slytherin seems tired and in dire need of a hug. Harry has to resist the urge to envelop the boy in his arms.

Malfoy sighs, and meets Harry’s stare. ‘I don’t know, Potter.’

‘Harry,’ He says, feeling weirded out from being called Potter. It’s a reminder of who he should be, who he  _ should’ve  _ been. The saviour of the wizarding world. And yet, he’d failed; so many of his friends were gone because of his incompetence. ‘Just call me Harry.’

‘I guess that we’re on a first name basis now,’ Malfoy murmurs, his voice soft and blanketed by emotion. ‘So I suppose that you can call me Draco. Leave the past in the past and all that.’

‘Okay.’ Harry whispers. Malfoy - Draco - looks at him and -

_ Smiles _ . It looks weird - good - weirdly good. It’s not a full smile, moreso a twitch of the lips, a break in his facade that Harry had never seen before. It makes him look more attractive. 

(Not that Harry thought that Draco was attractive, of course. He’d just grown into a young adult, and his childhood dickishness had faded away, and now he was this eloquent nearly-man who was the embodiment of elegant and ethereal.) 

(Perhaps he was a tiny bit attractive.)

Draco reaches out his hand - the sleeves of his robes are carefully tailored to cover his forearms, Harry notices - that weird not-quite-smile on his face, silver eyes intense, his gaze focussed fully on Harry. 

‘Truce?’ He asks, his face, whilst pale and thin, beautiful in light of his smile. ‘I don’t know about friends, or whatever, but at least we can try and move past being enemies.’

Harry smiles at that. He hadn’t realised it, but Malfoy - Draco’s - presence would incite something in him. Before it had been an unhealthy obsession, an admiration turned into jealousy and hate. Now it was something that could be admiration again. They’d both grown as human beings.

‘Yeah. Truce.’

\--

They become friends. Of sorts. They’re not like Ron and Harry, but they’ve got some kind of mutual respect. They spend time together - time that doesn’t end in curses or blood. 

Somehow, they end up doing homework together. 

‘No, no, no! Siren’s scales does  _ not _ have the same effect as mermaid’s scales!’ 

‘What? Aren’t they the same thing?’ 

Draco stares at him. ‘Harry. Did anyone actually  _ teach _ you Potions?’

‘No?’ Harry laughs sheepishly, scratching at his neck. He’s never been especially good at Potions, save for the year he’d gotten Snape’s old book. Before that, he’d been too bullied by Snape to actually focus on the class itself.

  
Draco sighs. ‘Alright. Come here.’

Harry shuffles over, awkwardly staring as Draco pulls his parchment out of his hands and onto his own lap. The Gryffindor settles into a cross-legged seat next to Draco.

He can feel the heat. Harry is intensely aware of their closeness; of Draco’s still-new  _ trust _ in him. Their newfound  _ closeness _ . How Draco doesn’t hide his arm - the one with the Dark Mark, the one that reminds him of all that happened - around him anymore.

‘You see, sirens and mermaids are distant cousins - their scales have  _ similar  _ properties, but they definitely aren’t the same. Are you following?’ Draco asks, eyebrows furrowed as he looks over Harry’s work. 

‘Uhuh.’ Harry whispers, and gets lost in the sound of Draco’s voice.


End file.
